Genesis 3:20 (WEB)
The man called his wife Eve because she would be the mother of all the living.
As quoted in the map (KJV)
Genesis 3:20 (KJV)
And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
Key words
- חַוָּהChavvah · Hebrew
- 'Eve,' from the root chay (חַי), 'living.' Her name is a title: life-giver.
- ΖωήZōē · Greek (LXX)
- 'Life' — the Septuagint translates her name outright: 'Adam called his wife's name Life, because she is the mother of all the living.'
Why it matters
Only after the fall is the woman named Eve, 'mother of all living.' Pitre observes that the New Testament transfers this title to Mary: at the cross the New Eve becomes mother of the beloved disciple (John 19:26–27), and Revelation 12:17 speaks of 'the rest of her offspring' who keep God's commandments. Eve is mother of all who live by nature; Mary is mother of all who live by grace.
Catechism · 1
- §489Paragraph 2 · "Conceived by the Power of the Holy Spirit and Born of the Virgin Mary"Read at vatican.va
“At the very beginning there was Eve; despite her disobedience, she receives the promise of a posterity that will be victorious over the evil one, as well as the promise that she will be the mother of all the living.” — Catechism footnote: Cf. Gen 3:15, 20.
Fathers and councils · 7
Augustine of Hippo
“When was Eve created?” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 20.
Read the whole comment“In figure of her, Eve was called also “the Mother of all living.”” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 16, 20.
Read the whole comment“Truly it pointed to a great good, prior to the great evil of the transgression (in the guise of one thus lying asleep).” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 20.
Read the whole comment
Jerome
“As there is one Eve who is “the mother of all living,” so is there one church which is the parent of all Christians.” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 20.
Read the whole comment
Tertullian
“Accordingly, let none interpret with a prophetic reference a name which was deduced from another signification; especially since it is apparent when she did receive a name founded upon a future (circumstance)—there, namely, where she is surnamed “Eve,” with a personal name now, because the natural one had gone before.” — editor's note: See Gen. iii. 20.
Read the whole comment
Gregory of Nazianzus
“This is why the heathen rage and the peoples imagine vain things; why tree is set over against tree, hands against hand, the one stretched out in self indulgence, the others in generosity; the one unrestrained, the others fixed by nails, the one expelling Adam, the other reconciling the ends of the earth.” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 6–23.
Read the whole comment
Clement of Alexandria
“Proinde qua, prior inchoavit transgressionem, Vita est appellata, propter causam successionis: et eorum, qui generantur, et qui peccant, tam justorum quam injustorum, mater est, unoquoque nostrum, seipsum justificante, vel contra inobedientem constituente.” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 20.
Read the whole comment
Cross-references · 14
Cited together in Tractates on the Gospel of John Tractate 120.
Cited together in Catechism §489.
Cited together in Catechism §489.
Cited together in Catechism §489.
Cited together in Catechism §489.
Cited together in Catechism §489.
Cited together in Catechism §489.
Cited together in Catechism §489.
Cited together in Tractates on the Gospel of John Tractate 120.
Cited together in Tractates on the Gospel of John Tractate 120.
Cited together in Catechism §489.
Cited together in On the Veiling of Virgins Chapter 5.
Cited together in On the Veiling of Virgins Chapter 5.
Cited together in Tractates on the Gospel of John Tractate 120.